The Open Secret Project, III
By John Taylor; 7 July, 2004
The Secret of Divine Civilization is the most revolutionary, evolutionary document for sustainable human development ever produced. The open secret project would be a moderated discussion based upon each sentence of this, the first book by `Abdu'l-Baha, published long before He assumed leadership of the Baha'i Faith. Let us go on to the next sentence.
"Senses and faculties have been bestowed upon us, to be devoted to the service of the general good..."
Not to indulge us, not for profit, pleasure, distraction or curiosity, but for the general good, to benefit the public thing first.
The Master is developing a famous criticism that Jesus directed towards both the Pharisees and His followers of little faith. He warned us not to be hypocrites, naysayers or doctrinal malingerers, "Having eyes, see ye not? And having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember?" (Mark 3:18) The miracle of the loaves and fishes was wonderful because of the good it did and can continue to do, not because of any supernatural means. It was a miracle confirmation that repeats every time we have faith, which is action based on conscious knowing. We cannot forget that or we throw out the very goal of religion, which as much as science is concerned with the full use of our gifts and faculties for the "general good."
All therefore should welcome the benefits of science and technology, especially of communications technology. Such are ways of extending human senses and powers and insofar as they help us promote the general good, they are miracles, truly wonderful developments. But it is all useless if we, each and all, do not wholeheartedly think in altruistic terms and long for the real benefit of all. The Master places this purpose at the root of our humanity:
"...we, distinguished above all other forms of life for perceptiveness and reason, should labor at all times and along all lines, whether the occasion be great or small, ordinary or extraordinary, until all mankind are safely gathered into the impregnable stronghold of knowledge."
As Baha'is we often are confronted with this objection from those who first encounter Baha'u'llah: "You guys seem to think that human progress is inevitable but we can and are screwing up. Nothing is inevitable." Needless to say, not only the Baha'i Writings but all scriptures are full of warnings that our progress is conditional upon a willed, conscious decision on our part. So no, nothing is inevitable. But note what the Master says here. What is an impregnable stronghold? Not us but knowledge. Our ability to know is what gives us our high possibilities. Not destiny or luck or magic but our ability to know and improve knowledge. That and that only gives impregnable grounds for progress.
I'm reading "A History of Knowledge," by Charles Van Doren, a brilliant work that draws this aspect of the Master's thesis out to book length. Van Doren starts off admitting that the human race can and often does slip backwards in many respects,
"The voluminous literature dealing with the idea of human progress is decidedly a mixed bag ... the fervent belief ... in the inevitability of progress in all fields of human endeavor must be viewed as insupportable. We cannot accept it any longer, even if we once thought it was true." (History of Knowledge, xv)
But the fact is that humans can see, hear, think, and mostly remember. That gives us something that no other animal has, knowledge. What is more, we can extend and improve our vision, hearing and the tools we use to think and write what we learn. This launches a unidirectional vector forward.
"Progress in human knowledge is another matter. Here it is possible to argue cogently that progress is in the nature of things. `Not only does each individual progress from day to day,' wrote ... Pascal, `but mankind as a whole constantly progresses ... in proportion as the universe grows older.' The essence of man as a rational being, as a later historian would put it, is that he develops his potential capacities by accumulating the experience of past generations." (Id.)
Over the generations, knowledge grows and grows inevitably, ineluctably and we can catch onto its coattails. It is a sure handle, and "Sure Handle" is a synonym for the Manifestation of God, in the Writings. Van Doren goes on to point out that the fact that we can extend and improve the tools of communications and thought actually allows acceleration of progress based on knowledge. The invention of the computer and the internet put rockets on the shoes of such advance.
In spite of these amazing tools for seeing, hearing, thinking, they still require consciously effort to see and hear with our own senses and mind. We may improve vision aids and thought tools at every step of the way, but they are only "how’s." We cannot leave aside the "why" of religious investigation. Harmonizing science and faith in service of common knowledge is the Open Secret, the Master's main thesis in "Secret of Divine Civilization."
Abdu'l-Baha hints at what I call openness when in the above citation he says we must labor, "at all times and along all lines, whether the occasion be great or small, ordinary or extraordinary, until all mankind are safely gathered..." What is ordinary and extraordinary? What can be great or small? Why, your own journal or web page. You use it every day, but if all adopt a common, public, open interface or template, the results will be far reaching indeed.
I have been running over this same thing in my efforts to improve my health. Over and over, again and again it is the same advice. I read about how to get rid of migraines, the counsel is always the same, keep a headache diary of everything you do and eat and watch out for triggers. I read about how to lose weight, the same deal. Keep track of what you eat in a journal and try to improve this and that factor in your diet. Easy and simple as it sounds, I find it extraordinarily difficult to follow this advice.
The longest I've been able to keep a headache diary is ten days, which I managed last month. Doing it was so unpleasant that my entries petered out pathetically. I am disobeying a doctor's advice, which means disobeying Baha'u'llah, but O God! I hate it. I guess the way I keep sane and advance spiritually is by determinedly _not_ thinking about the very things I am supposed to be recording in my journal.
It is the same with personal finances, I absolutely hate every minute of it and -- I admit it -- in spite of five years of accountancy training, I have never in my life balanced a checkbook. Literally, I would rather have a root canal than look at those horrible numbers obscenely humping each other before my very eyes. My shameful secret is out. I am a writer who hates writing, a journalist who hates journals. Here is the real reason why I propose a website journal that would automatically write itself. That would be the secret solution to my ills and those of mankind. It is out there now. As of now it is now an open secret.
Until tomorrow, join me in giving thought to the next sentence from the Secret,
"We should continually be establishing new bases for human happiness and creating and promoting new instrumentalities toward this end."
No comments:
Post a Comment